Mythology

Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer: there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness. -- George Santayana
This morning and afternoon (9 March), I was watching the National Geographic Channel's back-to-back reprise of Carl Sagan's venerable 1980 series Cosmos, being re-broadcast in preparation for Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson's updated version, scheduled to start tonight. The 1980-vintage Cosmos is as mesmerizing now as it was 34 years ago. But it set me to wondering: why is it that, despite the deluge of books in the last generation or so explaining even subjects as abstruse as s...